


Pavel Chekov Is Extremely Underrated Part III: Journey To The Center Of Romulus

by theimpossiblegirl39



Series: Pavel Chekov is Extremely Underrated [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 09:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5370050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theimpossiblegirl39/pseuds/theimpossiblegirl39
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's an explosion on Romulus, suspected to be intended to kill Starfleet officers.  Thankfully, there weren't many casualties. But Hikaru Sulu is not thankful. His best friend, Pavel Chekov, is dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pavel Chekov Is Extremely Underrated Part III: Journey To The Center Of Romulus

It all started with Uhura’s petition. 

Earlier that week, after a battle with the Klingons, Uhura had been climbing through a jefferies tube to repair a conduit, when a hatch malfunctioned and she fell 7 feet below, right into a crowded mess hall. This would have been alright, except for when she fell, her skirt caught onto the hatch and she ended up flashing everyone in the room. This lead to some rather awkward silences, a few unsure coughs, concealed giggles, and a very angry Lieutenant Nyota Uhura. She blamed the fact that woman in Starfleet were made to wear ridiculous uniforms, and that had she been wearing pants, she would have not been as embarrassed. Of course, she was right, but when she brought the matter up with Captain Kirk, he denied it, stating that he did not have the power to change Starfleet regulations. This also would have been fine, except then Spock pointed out that Captain Kirk barely ever followed Starfleet protocol, and approximately ninety-one point three percent of the time completely ignored it. When he still refused to allow women to change their uniforms, Uhura was no longer angry. She was furious. 

Kirk stated that he believed that the uniforms looked fine, and that their aesthetics far outweighed their impracticality. Uhura asserted that he was a “sexist pig who cares more about looking at women than appreciating them for their intelligence and integrity”. Soon they began a rather vicious screaming match in the middle of the bridge. 

Unable to get them too calm down, the bridge crew called Doctor McCoy. 

“Bridge to McCoy.”

“This is McCoy. 

"Your presence is required on the bridge."

"Is there a medical emergency?"

"No."

"Then it will have to wait. I'm the middle of treating Ensign Coleman for an eye infection.”

"It really can't wait Doctor."  
There was a pause, and then the doctor replied back, "Is Jim causing a scene again?" 

"In a matter of speaking."

The doctor sighed. "Alright I'll be right there."

Sure enough, the doctor arrived on the bridge only a few minutes later and dragged Kirk back to sickbay. Uhura then excused herself. Everyone hoped that would be the end of it. 

It wasn't.

Uhura had decided to start a petition to convince Starfleet to change the female uniforms to a more practical design. After getting the entire female crew to sign, as well as Lieutenant Sulu, Ensign Chekov, Spock, and Dr. McCoy, Uhura contacted other members of starfleet and convinced them to sign it when they reached Romulus, where the Romulans and Starfleet were having a summit. Kirk felt rather betrayed that Bones would sign such a petition, but Dr. McCoy defended his position with “The way I see it Jim, if women wore pants on this ship, I wouldn’t have to treat so many after walking around on a planet for scratching themselves on potentially toxic plants. Their legs would be protected.”

And so the petition circled around the Enterprise, gaining more and more signatures as they approached Romulus. Finally, when they reached the planet, Uhura had successfully managed to get almost everyone on board to sign. The only person who refused to was Kirk. Once they were in orbit, she and the rest of the senior staff beamed down to the surface. 

 

“I can not beliewe how many people are here Zulu. Zere zeems to be hundredz!” Ckekov gazed around the ballroom where Uhura had set up her signing station, the crowd of people growing by the minute. 

“I’m just surprised the Romulans allowed her use of the space. It’s uncharacteristically generous of them.” 

“Maybe ve hawe misjudged zem.”

Sulu looked at the younger man. “Maybe. But something doesn’t seem right.”  
“Vhat do you mean?”

“I’m not really sure, it just feels like-” 

Sulu was cut off by a loud bang and a rumbling. Screams broke out amongst the crowd. The two officers fell into a defensive stance, hands up, ready to fight. Chekov glanced down at the floor, where the bang seemed to have originated. His eyes widened in horror when he saw cracks running through the floor rapidly.  
“Zulu!” 

“Everyone out!” 

People began rushing from the room, panicking and screaming, frantically pulling open the heavy door. 

The floor split open and people began screaming in terror as the refreshment table disappeared into the hole. At the same time, the ceiling began to crumble. Sulu spotted Uhura trying to climb over a fallen ceiling beam. She was struggling because a outward-jutting piece of metal had caught on her skirt. 

“This is why we should wear pants!” 

Sulu rushed to help and then pulled her to the door. He managed to get through the door, but turned around last minute, remembering Chekov. He spotted his little friend reaching for a small Romulan girl stuck on another ceiling beam.  
“Chekov!”

Chekov grabbed the little girl and ran towards the door. Suddenly the ceiling made a loud cracking noise. As he reached the door, he thrust the little girl at Uhura, just as the ceiling collapsed and five tons of concrete and metal fell.

Sulu shielded his face. After the dust had settled, he looked up. He could vaguely hear Uhura calling for help. But that wasn’t important. What was important was that Chekov, Pavel, his best friend, was dead. 

 

Chekov’s head was pounding. He slowly opened his eyes. “Ugh. Zat iz ze last time I go to a convention vith Hikaru.” He sat up and looked around, taking in his surroundings. It wasn’t easy to tell where he was with all the rubble that had fallen when the room collapsed, but he appeared to be in what looked like a basement, probably directly below the ballroom. After checking himself and making sure he was relatively uninjured, Chekov stood up and began to look for a way out of the room that wasn’t blocked by smashed blocks and concrete and ceiling beams. Finally, he found a vent that opened up to a tunnel slightly smaller than a jeffries tube. “Zis must be for air zirculation. It iz a good zing I am zo zmall.” Pavel began to crawl into the tunnel, unaware of the eyes that watched him from the shadows. 

 

“What do you mean I can’t go down there? My navigation officer is down there!” 

Captain Kirk was seething. He had been with the Romulan President when suddenly there was a loud bang and people had begun to panic. It had taken him and Spock almost thirty minutes to get someone to tell him what had happened, when they finally found out, Kirk was horrified. He and Spock had run as fast as they could to the site of the explosion, meeting Bones along the way. Upon arrival, Bones got right away to treating people’s injuries. Across the crowd, Kirk spotted Sulu and Uhura. He ran to them. When he got closer, he could see Sulu’s head was down and Uhura had one arm around him rubbing circles in his back and the other clutching his hand. She seemed to be talking in a quiet voice. “Are you guys okay?”

Uhura glanced up at him. She had been crying. “We are fine.” 

Kirk wanted to feel relieved, but something was nagging at him. “Where’s Chekov.”

Slowly, painfully slowly, Sulu raised bloodshot eyes to meet Kirk’s with a sharp stare. 

“Pavel is dead.”

Kirk stood there, stunned. It couldn’t be. Not their little Chekov. God, the kid was only eighteen. There was no way he could be dead. 

“It’s true Captain. He stayed inside to save a little girl. He managed to get her out, but he didn’t have enough time to jump. He was crushed.” 

Kirk’s eyes were moist. He turned to Spock, who was standing next to him. “I need to see the President.”

And so that was how Kirk and the senior staff of the Enterprise ended up in the President of Romulus’ meeting chamber, arguing over going down and retrieving Chekov’s body.

“What do you mean I can’t go down there? My navigation officer is down there!”  
“I understand your need Captain, but I assure you it is too unstable to go down there anytime soon. I’m sorry, but I will not allow it.”

“Has there been any evidence of why the room collapsed?” Spock inquired.

“Nothing for sure as of yet, but it looks as though someone planted a bomb.” 

“A bomb? For whom?” Uhura interjected.

“Starfleet most likely. It was public knowledge that you would be using that room this afternoon. Most likely a terrorist outside of the government.” 

Kirk’s eyes narrowed. “Outside the government?” 

“I can assure you Captain, that none of my people would ever commit such a heinous act against our allies. It has to be a civilian. We will find who is responsible and he will be brought to justice. You have my word.” 

 

Chekov was not happy. He had been crawling through the ventilation shaft for almost two hours. He was starting to tire. 

“Ztupid explosion. Ztupid convention. Ztupid petition. If Uhura didn’t hawe to go around getting zignatures then I vould newer be in zis mess. If ze keptin had just let her vear pants, zis vould not be problem. I do not zee vhat the big deal is about vomen not vearing pants. Vomen vear pants all ze time in Russia. In fact, vomen’s pants vere inwented in Russia.” He grumbled to himself. Suddenly there was a loud clang. Chekov froze. 

“Who is zere?”

Listening carefully, Chekov could hear steady thumps behind him, coming closer. Someone was following him. 

Chekov began to crawl even faster. So did whoever was behind him. Chekov soon saw a light coming up ahead of him as he rushed through the tube. When he reached it, he kicked out the vent and pulled himself out, immediately looking for a weapon to use against the person in the vent. The room was an office of some sort. He didn’t find anything to defend himself with, so he settled for using a chair. Within minutes, the second person, a young Romulan man emerged from the vent, armed with a phaser. Without hesitating, Chekov threw the chair at him, knocking him in the head. The Romulan fell, unconscious. Chekov grabbed his phaser and went to go find help. 

 

“Ensign Pavel Chekov was a remarkable young man, a brilliant officer, and a compassionate friend. He was the best navigator I’ve ever had the pleasure of serving with, and an amazing technician. Someone so young and full of potential should have achieved so much. Which makes his sudden yet heroic death all the more tragic. He died saving a child and his crewmates, and should be commended for his bravery and valor. Chekov if you can hear me, wherever you are, I hope you are at peace. You deserve nothing less. We will never forget you kid.” Kirk stepped back and let the coffin bearers push the coffin out into space. He felt exhausted. Before the memorial service, he had written Chekov’s eulogy and and performed the heartbreaking task of informing Chekov’s family of their son’s death. Kirk never knew he could cry so much. 

He stood next to Spock, who gave him a reassuring nod, and actually looked stricken with grief- as stricken as a man with no emotions could look anyway. On his other side stood Bones, and then Scotty and Uhura. Sulu stood apart from them, closer the coffin, as though he wanted to jump inside and yell “But look his body isn’t even here! He might still be alive!” even though they all knew that was impossible. They watched as Chekov’s coffin floated out to space, and the doors closed. Beside Bones, Scotty fidgeted.

“Uh, Doctor?” 

“Yes Mr. Scott?”

“I think, after the service, I might come with ya back to yer office.”

“Why? Do you feel sick?”

“Uh, I think I’m hallucinating.”

“Hallucinating? Hallucinating what?”

“Chekov.”

“Chekov?”

“Yeah. At least I think I’m hallucinating. I can swear I see the wee lad standing over there.”

“Oh my god. Jim! Look!”

Kirk turned and followed his friend’s line of sight, until it stopped on his recently deceased navigator. 

“Chekov!?”

Everyone turned to look. Sure enough, Pavel Andreivich Chekov was standing in the back, wiping tears from his eyes. 

“Do you really mean vhat you zaid Keptin? It vas so beautiful.” 

“Oh my gosh, Pasha!” Sulu ran at Chekov, grabbing him around the shoulders and pulling him into a tight embrace. “Don’t ever do that again. I thought you were dead!” 

“I am wery sorry Hikaru. I vill try to not almost die again. I promise.”

Kirk was still very confused. “Wait, let me get this straight. You’re alive, not dead. Uh, how exactly?”

Chekov recounted the events that occurred after he woke up in the basement and how he crawled out. He then informed them how the Romulan in the vent had been Jujahk, a civilian who hated Starfleet for no reason and just felt like blowing them up. However, by the time they had gotten this information, the Enterprise had already left. So the President had allowed a Romulan officer to fly Chekov to the Enterprise in a shuttle and beam aboard. 

“Wow. So you’re really not dead?” 

“No Keptin. I wery much alive.” 

“Oh good. I guess that means we all have to get to work now.” 

The crew began to disperse and resume their normal activities. As the bridge crew all piled into the turbolift. “Oh wait! Hold the lift, I’ll be right back!” Uhura ran out of the turbolift, and returned after a few moments. 

“I wasn’t going to say anything so soon after Chekov’s death, but since he isn’t dead I figure I can now. Captain here is the petition with over 1000 names on it. They all agree women in Starfleet should wear pants.” 

Kirk looked miserably at the data pad. He sighed. “Oh well. I guess I have to let you wear them now, since I am apparently the only person still against it.” 

“It’s for the best Jim.” Dr. McCoy said. 

“Yeah, you’re right. Hey if I let all the girls wear pants, do you think I can finally get away with wearing a purple shirt?”

“I’m not entirely sure-”

“Aw come on Bones. Primary colors are so boring. And purple matches my complexion so much better than yellow.”

The bickering between them continued until the turbolift reached the bridge, and Kirk exited first with a smug look on his face, indicating he had won the argument. 

Everyone returned to their stations and began to work as though the last few days had never occurred. And if anyone heard Dr. McCoy grumbling something like “I’ll make your complexion match your purple shirt alright. With my fist.” behind the Captain’s chair, they all pretended not to notice.


End file.
